2006 Toyota Corolla CE review from North America

This car must be a lemon. I bought this car due to the fact that it was a TOYOTA. Toyota could not have built a rock solid reputation on lemons like mine.

I am angry at this car, and I feel as if I was cheated.

When I put the dial on the dash for the heat on the floor only, it will only blow out of the windshield.

Toyota will not fix as the warranty is up and they say that one of my kids must have let a french fry fall into the vents or something. NO WAY - I have no kids.

The carpet on the underside of the trunk lid has fell down. Toyota would not fix. I tried to glue it back up but it will not say up.

It feels as if the transmission jerks into D sometimes when I first start to take off, all engine and transmission mounts have been looked at and the engine idle speed is normal. I was told the valve body could be bent. Once again Toyota said that I am on my own.

The car has been doing this since 34,000 - miles and I have it on paper with Toyota, but they say that the transmission is within standards.

The fake wood around the gearshifter has popped up and will not stay down. I didn't even try this one with Toyota.

The A/C line started leaking and was replaced at a cost of over $1200 for one line.

Toyota said that they might be able to get the powertrain warranty to pay for the line as part of the powertrain will rub on the line and wear a hole in it. After I let them pull the whole front of the car off, they said that it wasn't in the "Spot" so I would have to pay for all the labor and parts. It was like my car was in "Jail"; I had to pay.

The cheap plastic headlight are already getting dull from being in the sun, the car is less than 4-years old. Toyota said this is normal. The lights are not as bright, but the car still passes state inspection.

Sometimes when it rains a lot, I get about 1-inch of water in the back seat driver's side floor area.

Toyota inspected it several times and cannot find the source. I have taken a water hose to the car and it will not leak into the car if I spray any spot on the door or roof. No one can tell me how the water is getting in. The car has never been wrecked and no glass has ever been replaced. They even looked under the car to seen if the floor pan has a hole in it. Nothing.

The blue paint on the outside door handle is peeling off, but only on the driver's door.

I realize that this car has over 92,000 miles on it and it has really never had to be towed, but it has not held up very well.

Also the driver's side headlight seems to burn out every 10,000 miles or so. Toyota said that this is "Just a BULB". I got tired of paying them $45.00 to replace it, so I had to learn on my own. I have to remove the whole battery to get the little bulb out. A poor set up if you ask me.

Also another top reason, other than quality, and resale, that I bought this car was the fuel economy. The TOYOTA people told me I would get 40 mpg. I can say that this car has never got an average of 40 mpg on any tank. It will get about 29 mpg overall. A huge let down. When fuel was almost $4.00 a gallon, I bought this car with a monthly budget that could only make the payment with the saving in fuel cost, which never materialized.

Now the good.

It does get 29 mpg, not bad, but not good for such a light weight car, not as good as they had claimed.

The ride is well controlled and quiet smooth for such a short and stubby car. It rides and drives as good as any midsize car.

The take off is good, and the car feels light weight and the engine feels like it doesn't have to work real hard, unlike my last economy car.

The brakes work very well.

The trunk is quiet big for such a short car. As big as some midsize cars.

More Bad. The driver's seat when put in the correct place for someone who is 6-foot tall, in relation to the steering wheel and gas feed, are totally incorrect for anyone who is over 5.5 feet. Only if the steering wheel would adjust back 4-6 inches.

I have lots of mixed feelings about this car. I don't really feel as if I got to experience the true "TOYOTA FEELING".

This car was also quiet costly. It was almost $20,000.

I bet I could have got a Kia or Hyundai for $13,000 and had better luck.

Just not sure about it all.